Tying Accessibility to Business Objectives
Let’s face it: The federal government isn’t going to restart enforcing the ADA anytime soon.
Budget cuts, political headwinds, and executive orders have left the Department of Justice either unwilling or unable to address the digital accessibility violations flooding today’s economy. That leaves the responsibility for ensuring access squarely in the hands of businesses.
Some businesses act like the current administration is giving them a free pass to go back 70 years in the past and return to an era of unabashed discrimination. Yes, they might be able to get away with that legally, but is it smart for their long-term business access? My answer to this is no. Smart businesses aren’t hanging on the government’s every word and act (or lack thereof). They’ve figured out that accessibility delivers real business value. Here are eight ways accessibility directly benefits the bottom line. Tying your accessibility program to one or more of these eight may be the difference between funding and obscurity.
1. Accessibility is Usability
The single most important rule in digital accessibility is this: if a product is usable by people with disabilities, it will be easier to use for everyone else. Features originally developed as accessibility accommodations often become mainstream because they improve usability.
Closed captions help people in noisy environments.
Voice recognition enables faster hands-free interaction.
Strong color contrast improves readability in bright light outdoors.
Large clickable areas help people using touch screens or mice with poor precision.
Ignoring accessibility usually means ignoring real-world use cases, such as low vision users who rely on screen magnifiers, or keyboard-only users who can't use a mouse. Designing for these groups makes interfaces more intuitive for every user, regardless of ability.
When accessibility is part of product development from the beginning, usability improves across the board. That translates to fewer support calls, faster task completion, and lower customer frustration. Addressing accessibility reduces costs and increases customer satisfaction.
2. Market Share from Disabled Customers and Their Networks
Over 1.3 billion people globally live with a disability. That’s roughly 16-20% of the world’s population, depending on whose numbers you are looking at. They control over $13 trillion in disposable income when you include their friends, family, and support networks. If your product or service isn’t accessible, you're telling a lot of people that you aren’t interested in them spending their money with you.
People with disabilities are brand-loyal. When they find a product or service that works for them, they tend to stick with it. They also share their good experience with others. When they encounter accessibility barriers, they walk away—and share that experience just as loudly.
Businesses that include accessibility in their go-to-market strategy expand their potential user base and build long-term relationships with a group that is often overlooked and underserved.
3. Employee Retention and Productivity
Disability doesn’t end at the customer base. That 16-20 % figure also includes your current and future workforce. Accessible internal systems, training platforms, tools, and communications help employees with disabilities do their jobs efficiently and independently. If you don’t build accessible software and systems, you’re creating productivity barriers. That can lead to burnout, turnover, and potentially costly lawsuits. Yeah, people with disabilities can’t rely on the federal government to enforce their rights. But if they live in one of the states with strong disability discrimination laws, they don’t have to.
Accessible workplaces reduce the need for individual accommodations. Instead of creating ad hoc fixes for every new hire, you invest once in inclusive systems that scale. This saves time, money, and administrative overhead while sending a strong message that you respect all your employees equally.
4. Loyalty and Advocacy
People with disabilities and their allies notice when companies take accessibility seriously. They also notice when companies don’t.
Accessibility earns loyalty not just from individuals directly affected, but from everyone who sees fairness and equity as part of your brand. Word-of-mouth, peer networks, and advocacy groups all amplify (or trounce) your reputation.
A business that demonstrates a consistent commitment to accessibility and disability inclusion gains more than just customers. It gains advocates. That kind of brand reputation can’t be bought with a marketing campaign. It has to be earned by actions that reflect inclusion, both internally and externally.
5. Risk Reduction and Litigation Avoidance
Legal enforcement may be slow, but litigation from private parties is accelerating. Thousands of accessibility lawsuits are filed every year in the United States. An entire cottage industry has sprung up around law firms targeting companies with deep pockets and inaccessible public-facing digital content.
Settlements cost money. So do consent decrees. So does remediating inaccessible systems under the pressure of legal action.
Investing in accessibility early prevents costly technical debt and reduces the risk of litigation. Courts in the U.S., Canada, and Europe have repeatedly held that digital systems are public accommodations subject to accessibility regulations. Pretending your app, website, or internal tool doesn’t qualify is legally risky and financially unwise.
6. Procurement and B2B Sales
If you sell to governments, educational institutions, or large corporations, accessibility is no longer optional. Many procurement policies require suppliers to demonstrate digital accessibility conformance through documentation such as a Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) or Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR).
Failing to provide this documentation, offering out of date or erroenous data, or demonstrating poor accessibility can disqualify your product from purchase. Even businesses that do not face government regulation often follow similar internal policies to avoid risk and align with diversity and inclusion goals.
Strong accessibility performance can be a competitive differentiator in the B2B space. Weak accessibility documentation can be a deal breaker.
7. Disability Inclusion Promotes Innovation
Designing with disability in mind consistently leads to better, more flexible products. The classic example of this is the Oxo vegetable peeler. It was designed for people with disabilities, but spun off into a very successful product line. People with disabilities interact with technology in ways that challenge assumptions and reveal design flaws that others miss. Building with accessibility from the start is a smart business move.
Innovation isn’t always about doing something new. Sometimes, it’s about solving a problem differently because the standard approach doesn’t work for everyone. Features like predictive text, one-handed mobile use, and voice commands came from accessibility research. These ideas later became mainstream because they worked better for everyone.
Teams that prioritize disability inclusion explore more use cases, gather more diverse feedback, and develop a deeper understanding of human interaction. These qualities create stronger products, more agile design systems, and higher customer satisfaction. Disability inclusion isn’t just about fairness. It’s a proven path to meaningful innovation.
Final Thoughts
The question is no longer “Do we have to do accessibility?” or “Can we afford to do accessibility?” The real question is “Can we afford not to?”
From tapping into underserved markets and retaining loyal employees to minimizing legal risk and increasing usability for all users, accessibility delivers measurable value.
Businesses that act now build trust, protect their brand, and position themselves to succeed in a world where inclusion is not just good ethics—it’s smart business.
Accessibility is usability. It’s customer acquisition. It’s employee engagement. It’s risk management. It’s innovation.
It’s long past time that business leaders recognize that skipping accessibility is not a great way to save money, but it is a great way to lose money on litigation and lost market opportunities.